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Friday, July 21, 2023

07/21 Links Pt1: Erdogan to host Netanyahu, Abbas in Turkey next week; Arguments about judicial reform, ICC are legally baseless; UN envoy accused of flouting impartiality rules

From Ian:

Erdogan to host Netanyahu, Abbas in Turkey next week
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to separately host both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in Ankara next week.

The visit will mark Netanyahu's first prime ministerial trip to Turkey and is one more sign of the renewed diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Ankara has not hosted an Israeli Prime Minister since Ehud Olmert visited in 2008.

Turkish-Israeli diplomatic ties
Diplomatic ties with Turkey and Israel broke down following a 2010 IDF raid on the Mavi Marmara as it attempted to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Ten Turkish citizens were killed during that raid.

Tensions have also been high in the past due to Erdogan’s strong support for the Palestinians and his sharp anti-Israel comments, including at the United Nations.

Ties were restored last year, a move that was cemented with a visit by President Isaac Herzog. Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid also met with Erdogan in the fall on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Prior to the breakdown of relations between Jerusalem and Ankara, Turkey had been one of the countries along with Egypt that had served as a regional mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, particularly with Hamas.

The Turkish invitation, which follows the one extended last week by Morocco, comes amid increased Israeli-Palestinian violence. The trilateral project between Israel, Cyprus and Greece

It also immediately follows a visit by Netanyahu to Cyprus next week. Israel has looked to Cyprus to develop natural gas projects including with Greece.

A trilateral project between Israel, Cyprus, and Greece to develop an underwater pipeline by which to export Israel’s natural gas to Europe has been on hold pending an EU feasibility study. It also risked sparking tensions with Turkey, which claimed that a portion of the project was under its territorial waters.

Cyprus and Israel have also separately discussed natural gas projects, including one in which Israel’s natural gas would be sent to Cyprus via an underwater pipeline and then liquefied at a special plant built there and shipped to Europe from a nearby port.

Turkey would similarly like to develop a natural gas project with Israel, in which it would act both as a transit state to other sites and sell the commodity domestically.
FDD: Iran and its Network of Nineteen Terrorist Organizations on Israel's Borders
DESCRIPTION
Over the last four decades, the Iranian regime has built a network of armed groups on Israel’s borders to create instability and foment terrorism. Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and a mosaic of other terrorist organizations receive funding, training, and weapons from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds Force (IRGC-QF). FDD’s Long War Journal has monitored the buildup of Iran-backed terrorist organizations on key fronts: Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria. Israel has worked to limit the growth of these terrorist organizations, but they remain a significant threat on multiple fronts.

METHODOLOGY
This visual draws on open-source information, such as data released by government agencies, English and Arabic-language news reports, and social media accounts operated by terrorist organizations. ‍

Terrorist organizations highlighted in the visual are active, possess military capabilities to attack Israel and have acknowledged receiving support from Iran or are closely affiliated with armed groups who do. Palestinian organizations who operate under the Hamas-led Joint Operations Room are included due to their close affiliation with factions who receive support from Iran.

The visual identifies the terror groups’ areas of operation based on information primarily published by terrorist organizations. While most of the armed groups have maintained a presence in their respective territories for many years – decades in some cases – nascent terrorist organizations, such as the West Bank branches of Islamic Jihad and the Nablus-based Lions’ Den, are in the process of expanding the territory from which they operate from. Likewise, long-established organizations sometimes seek to open new fronts, as in the case of Hamas’ spread into southern Lebanon.

Some data — particularly funding levels, number of active members, arsenal contents and the identity of key leaders — are not available in open sources. These data points are noted as “undisclosed” or an estimate is given, often based on public statements of government officials — some anonymous — who have access to intelligence. In some instances, if FDD’s Long War Journal cannot locate reliable open-source data identifying a commander or secretary-general, “key leaders” is listed as “former leaders.” Furthermore, some organizations have established external headquarters, which are indicated in the "Area of Operation" segment of the profiles. Download Visual (pdf)
EU parliament urges Hezbollah be designated a terror group
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators and representatives joined together earlier this week to insist that the European Union classify Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization, as opposed to solely its “military wing.” An influential group that issued a similar push prior to that is the international alliance’s own legislature.

On July 12, the E.U. parliament passed a resolution calling for Hezbollah to be added to the list of banned terrorist groups.

The International Legal Forum (ILF) released a statement in response that applauded the decision. It said “Hezbollah is a genocidal jihadist terrorist group created, funded and instructed at the behest of the Iranian regime. It presents not only a direct threat to Israel but the E.U. as well.”

ILF dismissed efforts to divide Hezbollah into separate “political” and “military” divisions, calling such thinking “not only superfluous but dangerous.”

CEO Arsen Ostrovsky explained the resolution, telling JNS: “The European Parliament decision is not binding. It still needs to go to the European Commission to be formally ratified and Hezbollah added to the terror list in full.”

Ostrovsky called the E.U. parliament’s move “very important” and that it “carries significant weight.” He said it was the first time that parliament has called for Hezbollah “to be designated in full” and hoped that “U.S. pressure will carry additional weight now with the Commission to take the next, final steps.”


Meet the EU envoy hoping to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process
Koopmans said he is not discouraged by the seeming intractability of the situation, nor, he said, does he want to get to caught up in the details of how, and why, each side is entrenched in their positions.

Propelled forward by necessity, he is not concerned by the vast differences between his position and that of the Israelis.

“If everyone gives their vision [of peace], and I am sure they will be incompatible visions, then we can start talking about how to get there. This may sound very vague and I accept that. But I am being very concrete

“Let’s first get together with all the contributors to peace, the outside parties, and say what we are contributing to peace.”

At present, he said, “There is no peace process and the situation on the ground is deteriorating every day. So many people die, so many people are wounded, so many people live in fear, and there seems to be no hope in sight and that needs to change,” Koopmans said.

So it is this aspect of hope that he wants to focus on, particularly given his background in mediation on behalf of the EU and the UN in conflict zones such as Ukraine, Syria, Darfur, Mali, Cyprus, and Sudan.

It is not his role, he said, to dictate the terms of any final status agreement.

“I was in the private sector. I was in politics, and I am certainly not an expert on here [Israel], I have been involved in quite a few peace processes, some worked, some didn’t.”

“I am this guy from Amsterdam. I was very lucky I grew up in a very safe environment, there was no conflict around me.

“I did not have people who thought I should not live where I live or that I should not be there, for me it is very easy,” Koopmans said.

He explained that he can observe how “people from all sides live with this constant sense of fear” but “I do not want to presume that I can fully understand that.”

Instead, he wants to use his mediation skills to help them visualize a different reality.

“I engage with the Israeli government with the Palestinian leadership and many others to say what are you first doing, yourself, for peace today? What is your vision? And what would you like us to contribute?” Koopmans said.

During his brief trip to Jerusalem this week, he spoke with Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi about the initiative.

To move forward he has to ask those he is engaging with to dismiss pragmatic obstacles and the doomsday fears, so that they can focus on a seemingly improbable future.

“I want to work with everyone to elaborate as much as possible on how... beneficial it would be to everyone if there is peace” without touching on the problems.

“I am not saying that if we put all of that on the table, that in of itself would be sufficient to change the political landscape.

“I do not want to presume that if we put all sorts of wonderful things on the table... Israeli would [let go of] their legitimate concerns about security,” Koopmans said.

“But it may make a contribution to show that peace is still necessary and that it is also attractive,” he explained.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can’t just be reduced to “crisis management” and “to policing violence,” he said.

“If we do not all of us do something, it will continue to deteriorate,” he said, which will lead to despair and desperation.

“We have to create some hope,” particularly among the Palestinians, he said. “Otherwise, you will always have people who do turn violent.”

Of course, “This is not a justification” for violence, but rather an understanding that “desperate people do terrible things” and “we do not want them to do terrible things.”

“We all have an obligation as non-desperate people who try to do good things to show that there is something to live for,” he said.
EU envoy: ‘IDF razing in Area C fueling Israeli-EU tensions’
Israel’s failure to approve Palestinian housing and its razing of illegal structures in Area C of the West Bank is fueling tensions with the EU, the bloc’s Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process Sven Koopmans told The Jerusalem Post.

“It is a very negative factor and let me tell you that this is something that is very hard to explain to Europeans,” he said.

An issue in particular for the European Union is Israel’s demolition of illegal structures it has funded. Last year, according to the EU, Israel demolished 101 such structures in both Area C and east Jerusalem, amounting to a loss of €337,019.

“We, as the EU, are very upset that very frequently humanitarian projects that we fund are being demolished.

“European citizens from Portugal to Romania pay taxes that the EU then spends to try and do good in the world,” Koopmans said. This includes a number of modular schools in Area C.

Such demolitions are “unacceptable,” the envoy said, as he discussed the sharp disagreement between the EU and Israel on this issue and indeed on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general.
Herzog, Goldin ask Guterres to help bring home Israeli captives
President Isaac Herzog and Leah Goldin asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to help release Israeli soldiers and civilians from Hamas captivity in Gaza in a meeting at UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.

Goldin is the mother of Hadar Goldin, who fell in battle in 2014’s Operation Protective Edge. Hamas has held his body and that of soldier Oron Shaul since then, and also captured Israeli civilians Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.

She also met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington on Tuesday.

'A day full of hope,' defending the state of Israel
“In the authentic meeting with the secretary of state, I felt that he was really listening and that, for the first time, there are practical intentions to bring Hadar back,” Goldin said. “Bringing ‘everyone’s soldier’ from battle back to Israel’s borders will be the uniting, powerful and correct thing to do for the citizens of Israel, for world Jewry and for US citizens.”

Goldin called it “a day full of hope, the greatest since my Hadar fell in battle defending the state, thanks to the leadership of President Herzog.”

In Thursday’s meeting at the UN, accompanied by Ambassador Gilad Erdan, Herzog also emphasized that it is unacceptable for a UN member state – Iran – to threaten the annihilation of another – Israel. He called on Guterres to speak out clearly against such threats from Iran.


Lisa Daftari: Is the U.S./Israel Relationship in Trouble?
Caroline Glick, senior contributor, joins Lisa Daftari to discuss the latest developments regarding America's relationship with Israel.




UN envoy accused of flouting impartiality rules
A United Nations report that accuses Israel of a “settler colonial conquest” of the West Bank was written by a lawyer who gave a speech at a Hamas conference and appeared on a Hezbollah-affiliated TV channel.

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, claimed her paper provided a “bird’s-eye view of arbitrary deprivation of liberty as a key instrument of Israel’s domination and oppression”.

Albanese has been criticised for alleged anti-Israel bias since being appointed last May to investigate human rights violations in the West Bank.

In November, the Italian spoke to a Hamas-organised conference in Gaza also attended by senior members of terror groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Speaking to the assembled groups, she reportedly declared: “You have a right to resist this occupation.”

Examples of her alleged anti-Israel bias can be traced back to 2014 when Albanese claimed in a Facebook post that America had been “subjugated by the Jewish lobby” and that Europe would not criticise Israel because of its “sense of guilt about the Holocaust”.

She has since said she regrets the remarks. “Some of the words I used, during Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip in 2014, were infelicitous, analytically inaccurate and unintendedly offensive [sic],” she told The Times of Israel.

“I distance myself from these words, which I would not use today, nor have used as a UN special rapporteur.”

Albanese has also previously praised the terrorist Leila Khaled, a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Commenting on a 2015 news story which revealed that Khaled was to tour South Africa, Albanese wrote: “Go Leila go!”


Eugene Kontorovich: Arguments about judicial reform, ICC are legally baseless
Members of Israel’s security service who threaten to refuse to serve in response to the passage of any judicial reform argue that such measures will expose them to prosecution by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The often-heard claim is that the Supreme Court is a legal “Iron Dome” against hostile international lawfare. Deputy Attorney General for International Law Dr. Gil-Ad Noam argued before the Knesset that restricting the “reasonableness doctrine” will make it harder for Israel to push back against international criminal investigations.

The arguments about judicial reform and the ICC are legally baseless and worse, confer on the biased and weak body in The Hague a legitimacy it does not deserve. ICC has no authority to investigate Israel

Israeli governments both Left and Right have maintained the consistent position that the ICC has no authority to investigate Israel. Israel never ratified the Rome Convention, which created the tribunal, and like the United States, has never accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction. Under such circumstances, the only way The Hague could exercise jurisdiction over the state of Israel would be if crimes were committed in an ICC member’s territory.

Binding Israeli-Palestinian agreements leave the territorial boundaries of any future Palestinian state to a final resolution. A Palestinian state does not exist. Even if such a state did exist along the lines of the Oslo Accords, it would have no de jure or de facto jurisdiction over Area C of Judea and Samaria, Jerusalem or Israeli nationals.

Yet in spite of all of this, the ICC declared in 2021 that “Palestine” was a country, and that it had joined the Rome Statute, allowing the tribunal to investigate Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank. In no other case has the ICC recognized a “state” without UN membership. In an unprecedented move, leading ICC member states such as the UK and Germany, formally endorsed Israel’s position that the court has no authority.

Hostility to Israel is inherent to the ICC’s basic structure. The Rome Convention, at the behest of the Arab states, made one departure from the traditional definition of war crimes listed in the Geneva Convention. This carve-out specifically targets Israel, tailoring a new definition of transfer and settlement of citizens into disputed territories which is designed to retroactively criminalize and selectively target in Judea and Samaria.
Refuse-to-serve: Biased Israeli media is not reporting the full story
There are two problems with this much-ballyhooed refusal-to-serve festival. First, I suspect that the numbers are fuzzy and inflated. In fact, a deeper dive indicates that very many of the purportedly AWOL soldiers are long retired from reserve service of any type.

This reality became clear in a rare television news segment on Wednesday night where Col. Yair Pelei, the Golani Brigade commander, stripped the refuse-to-serve festival of its factual moorings. Hundreds of Golani reservists are currently participating in a massive training exercise on the Golan Heights. Not a single reserve soldier refused to show-up for duty, Col. Pelei said. Not a single one.

But surely the judicial reform storm is a topic of heated debate in the regular and reserve Golani units, insisted the reporter. “No, not at all. It is not something we discuss,” said the Golani commander. “Every soldier puts aside his personal views when it is time to train, with the understanding that Israel’s security is paramount and that they have a job to do that prevails over politics.”

Second, is the fact that for every refuse-to-serve declaration highlighted by the mainstream and almost uniformly anti-government media, there are an equal if not much greater number of petitions and declarations out there against sarvanut, against the wave of avowals to refuse-to-serve.

By my count – and I did my homework in tabulating this – well over 100,000 Israeli active duty and reserve military personnel are on record as rejecting the calls l’sarev, to refuse to serve.

Alas, you would not know this from the mainstream Israeli, or the global, media. They have almost totally ignored petitions and declarations from the center and conservative sides of the political map.

They pointedly have failed to report on what I think is the majority consensus in Israeli society – that refusal to serve in the IDF, under the current circumstance, and in almost all likely circumstances – is criminal at best, treasonous at worst. And in all cases, it is enormously damaging and dangerous.
The Caroline Glick Show: Are Leftist Pilots Capable of Grounding the Air Force?
Over the past ten days, Israelis have been subjected to more and more urgent warnings and threats from Air Force pilots that if the Netanyahu government goes forward with its plan to pass a law constraining the power of Supreme Court justices to overrule government decisions based on the invented “reasonableness” standard, they will refuse to serve in the Air Force and so destroy the IDF’s strategic arm.

To discuss the pilots’ behavior, the nature of the threat they pose to Israeli security and to the unity of IDF forces, Caroline Glick’s guest this week on the Caroline Glick show is IAF Maj. Shay Kallach. Kallach served for 9 years as an F-16 combat pilot and the commander of flight school.




Palestinian teen killed, 3 Israeli troops hurt in separate West Bank clashes
A Palestinian teenager was killed and three Israeli security force members were lightly hurt in separate clashes in the West Bank on Friday afternoon, Palestinian health officials and the Israeli military said.

In a joint statement, the Israel Defense Forces and Border Police said masked Palestinians hurled stones and “life-threatening rocks” at Israeli forces in the West Bank Palestinian town of Umm Safa.

A Border Police officer opened fire at the Palestinian suspects, hitting at least one, the statement said.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry said two people were seriously wounded by gunfire in the village, one of whom later died.

The fatality was named by Palestinian media outlets as 17-year-old Muhammad al-Bayed from the nearby Jalazone refugee camp.

Separately, an IDF officer and two Border Police officers were wounded during clashes with Palestinians in the southern West Bank town of Beit Ummar.

According to the joint statement, a Palestinian hurled an explosive device toward Israeli forces in the town, lightly wounding an on-duty IDF reservist officer.

A Border Police officer opened fire and hit the suspect who hurled the improvised bomb, the statement said. His condition was not immediately clear.

The IDF officer was taken to the Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem with shrapnel wounds to his leg, according to the Rescuers Without Borders emergency service.

Another two Border Police officers were lightly hurt by stones hurled by Palestinians in Beit Ummar, the statement added.
Israeli seriously injured in Jerusalem stabbing
An Israeli man was stabbed and seriously injured in a suspected terror attack in Jerusalem’s southern Gilo neighborhood on Thursday evening.

The Magen David Adom emergency medical service said its personnel treated a man in his 30s following a “violent incident” on Hamargalit Street. The victim was evacuated to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where he remains in critical condition.

The Hebrew-language Walla news site cited eyewitnesses as saying it was a brawl between Arabs and Jews.

Police forces are searching for multiple suspects after two knives were reportedly found at the scene.

One Arab suspect was arrested on Hebron Road, the Kan public broadcaster said.

According to local media, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) is involved in the investigation.


The Israel Guys: THESE Israeli Settlers’ Response to Terrorism is UNBELIEVABLE!
What these settlers did is unbelievable! After the horrific terror attack at the gas station in the Jewish community of Eli, all the world media could talk about was supposed “settler violence”.

On today’s show Joshua takes you out to the community of Eli to show you the ACTUAL response from the Jews living inside of Judea and Samaria. You might find what they are doing to be a bit unbelievable.




For the first time in decades, most Palestinian Americans will be able to use Tel Aviv airport
For the first time in 20 years, most Palestinian Americans will be able to enter and leave Israel through its main airport, part of a major policy change that will significantly ease access to the country for hundreds of thousands of West Bank residents and Palestinians abroad.

The change was made as part of Israel’s ongoing effort to join the Visa Waiver Program, which would enable Israelis to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without first obtaining a visa.

One of the key obstacles to joining the program was that Palestinian citizens of the United States who are on the population registry Israel maintains have since the the early 2000s been barred from using Ben Gurion International Airport and must instead travel through Jordan. The United States has demanded that in order to join the program, Israel must treat all U.S. citizens entering the country equally, no matter their national origin.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday, Israel will move closer to treating U.S. citizens who hold Palestinian identity documents as they would any others entering Israel. Palestinian Americans, including those who appear on the registry, would be allowed to enter Israel for a 90-day period and travel where they wish, as would any other U.S. citizen.

The registry is a list maintained by Israel of Palestinians who have residency status in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, even if they are living abroad. Israel has at times directed Palestinian Americans who are not on the registry to enter through Jordan. Palestinians say the randomness of how the rules have been applied has been daunting.

The memorandum was signed by Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to Washington; Tom Nides, the U.S. ambassador to Israel; and Rob Silvers, the Department of Homeland Security undersecretary for policy. “This is a significant milestone towards Israel joining the program,” Herzog wrote on Twitter, attaching a photo of himself signing the document.

Tzachi HaNegbi, Israel’s national security advisor, said Israel’s compliance with the document would begin as of Thursday.


Lebanese Pop Singer Responds to Criticism Over Taking Photos With Israeli Fans at Cyprus Concert
Lebanese pop icon Nancy Ajram defended herself on Tuesday against backlash she received for taking photos with Israeli fans during her recent concert in Cyprus.

“I will not give testimonies on my patriotism to anyone!” the multi-platinum singer wrote in an Arabic-language Twitter post. “I will not comment anymore, because my belonging to this land [Lebanon] and its roots transcends trivialities and remains above any consideration. [I am] Lebanese and Arab until the last breath. Thanks for the love and support.”

Social media users accused the pop singer of “normalization” with Israel and “not being careful” after she took photos with Israeli fans at her concert on July 8 in Cyprus, The New Arab first reported. Many others came to Ajram’s defense, saying there is no way for her to know a fan’s nationality before taking a picture with them.

Lebanon and Israel have no diplomatic relations and the former does not recognize Israel as a state.

In her Twitter post on Tuesday, Ajram also re-shared a tweet she wrote in 2017, when she responded to similar criticism for taking a picture with an Israeli fan in Jordan who spoke Arabic, according to The New Arab. That same year Ajram reportedly asked an Israeli journalist from Yedioth Ahronoth to leave a press conference she held before her performance as part of a cultural festival in Jordan.

Yehudith Dosh, the Israeli fan who took photos with Ajram at the latter’s concert in Cyprus and even went on stage to give her flowers, told Israel’s N12 news outlet she was totally unaware of the outrage that her photos caused.


Iran Jails Fourth American While Biden Admin Negotiates Swap for Three Others
The Iranian government has detained a fourth U.S. citizen, potentially complicating the Biden administration's ongoing negotiations to free three other imprisoned Americans in the country.

The imprisonment of the American, who remains unnamed, was hinted at by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in a Sunday interview on CBS.

"We have tried very hard to secure the release of the four unjustly detained Americans in Iran; we have done so since the day that President Biden took office," Sullivan said.

Three Iranian-Americans—Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi, and Morad Tahbaz—remain in custody in Iran. The White House has engaged in talks to free the group and is weighing the release of frozen Iranian funds in exchange for their freedom.

The two sides were nearing an agreement before the fourth arrest, Al-Monitor reported:

Last month, Washington and Tehran appeared to be on the verge of an agreement that would bring home the three Americans in exchange for Iran gaining limited access to billions of dollars in assets frozen abroad. Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, whose country has helped facilitate the prisoner talks, told Al-Monitor in a June 14 interview that the two sides were "close" to a deal.

A person familiar with the negotiations told Semafor that the new detention will not affect talks.

"Multiple senior officials at the State Department in the last few weeks have privately emphasized the U.S. and Iran have already agreed the fourth American will be part of any deal and there are no delays being caused by [the person’s] inclusion," the individual said.

The families of those detained have criticized the Biden administration's slow action in negotiating their freedom.




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